Evaluation of Knowledge, Attitude and Medication Adherence among Asthmatics Outpatients in Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital-A Questionnaire Based Study

Background: The burden of asthma in India is estimated at more than 15 million patients. Approximately two to four percent of adult population of India is affected by asthma. In recent decade, there are striking advancement in the clinical treatment of asthma. However, in spite of this, the frequency and morbidity of asthma is increasing in several countries. The Objectives of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and to evaluate the medication adherence among the asthmatic patients. Methods: This is a prospective, observational, questionnaire based study conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital of central India after the approval of institutional ethics committee for a period of six months. Face-to-face interview with the patients of specialized Asthma clinic from Pulmonary Medicine, Outpatients Department (OPD) was conducted. This was administered with questionnaires assessing the knowledge, attitude and medication adherence (Morisky 8-items medication adherence scale) towards their disease and treatment. Results: Data of 154 patients were analysed for this study. Here 80 (51.9%) patients were male and 74(48.1%) were female. The maximum knowledge score is 16 and 66.86% of patients scored a mean score of 10.7. In attitude, the maximum score is 24 and 71.25% of patients scored a mean score of 17.1, while in adherence the maximum score is 8 and 42.50 % of patients scored a mean score of 3.4. Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that the patients’ specific knowledge on asthma was low. However, some patients had favourable attitude towards their disease but others did not have the necessary attitude of disease management. In addition , the medication adherence was also poor in asthmatics patients.

Key-message: Evaluation of knowledge, Attitude and patient medication adherence in Asthma.